Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Majoring in the Humanities: Maybe it's not so impractical after all

The other day a judge asked me (rhetorically) what I thought the most highly regarded undergraduate degree by law schools was. His answer? Philosophy. I have also seen studies showing that indicate that even in the business world, degrees in the humanities are more highly regarded than the standard business degree.

Here is an interesting take one some of these same issues.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Cothran's title:
"Majoring in the Humanities: Maybe it's not so impractical after all"

From the link he references:
It’s often said that the most employable major at the top 20 schools is Classics.

Which of these two diametrically opposed statements does Mr Cothran feel to be true? Do people believe these studies are impractical or the most employable major?

jah

Martin Cothran said...

Jah,

Maybe you could explain what is inconsistent about classics and humanities, since the Classics are generally considered to be one of the humanities.

Anonymous said...

Mr Cothran wrote "Maybe it's not so impractical after all". What does this mean? To me it means that some have been suggesting that majoring in the Humanities is impractical. If not, why use such a construction? What other interpretation is there?

But the article cited states that Classics (one of the Humanities) is the most employable major. Therefore it is practical to major in the Humanities. Therefore it would not be a common assumption that majoring in the Humanities is impractical. So why would Mr Cothran imply that majoring in the Humanities is impractical?

jah

Anonymous said...

Just to make it clearer, wouldn't a more appropriate title be: "Majoring in the Humanities: Once again confirmed as a practical choice" rather than "Majoring in the Humanities: Maybe it's not so impractical after all"?

jah

Martin Cothran said...

Jah,

Sure. I was sort of alluding to the commonly held belief that those majors don't "help you get a job." I probably didn't say that explicitly enough.

Anonymous said...

Gee whiz, maybe we're finally getting somewhere.

Mr Cothran:
"commonly held belief that those majors don't "help you get a job.""

In the article cited by Mr Cothran under his title:
Travis Kavulla: "It’s often said that the most employable major at the top 20 schools is Classics."

"majors don't "help you get a job.""
vs
"the most employable major"

To me, there is a clear conflict between Mr Cothran's "commonly held belief" and Mr Kavulla's "It's often said". Do others think these statements are expressing the same or opposed sentiments?

So is the commonly held belief which people often say
1) Classics/Humanities good for getting a job, or
2) Classics/Humanities bad for getting a job?

jah